Regalia
by Kurogane7
Summary: Regalia: emblems or insignia of Royalty. Naruto's life had changed during the Chūnin Exams in Training Ground 44 the day he had strange encounters with animals of unusual size. How will his future change? What changes will happen to the Shinobi Nations? Two Servants fused together to make an original Servant. Naruto x Harem. Gender-benders. Will be Crossover and Rated T for now.
1. Kidnapped

_**A/N: For some reason, I had this wacky idea for another "Fate/Stay Night" and "Naruto" cross, and then I thought: why not play the "Polymerization Card" between two servants of different classes to create a pretty much original Naruto reincarnation as a servant? And since I've gotten the idea from that unknown reviewer from "Hero of the Elemental Nations", as well as a certain NeonZangetsu story, I decided to pitch this idea and see where it goes as I get it off my chest. Do read and review, would you kindly?**_

_**Also, to those of you following "Naruto: The Dark Knight REMIXED", I would like to remind you that votes are still on for the monster you want Naruto to fight in Training Ground 44. You may choose up to five times, and the monster that earns the most votes will surprise you when the chapter comes, so do please vote.**_

…

[Training Ground 44…]

It would normally be a lovely day for a stroll, were it not for the fact that genin from all over the nation were fighting for their lives in this place. Training Ground 44 was by and large the most dangerous place in Konohagakure no Sato; large animals, poisonous plants, overall not a very good place to be. But then again, it was a rather good review for students going through the Chūnin Exams at this stage.

Naruto had been separated from his teammates when that bigass snake came and swallowed him whole. Fortunately, he'd been able to get free when he turned his Kage Bunshin into bombs, making the snake spit him back out. Now however, he'd found himself lost in an unknown part of the forest, separated from his team. "I've got to get back!" he said to himself, "I really don't want Sakura-chan to be disappointed!"

Just as he was about to hop off to find his team, Naruto heard the sound of cawing nearby that almost got him to trip on his own two feet. He turned and saw a pair of really big crows looking at him weird. There was something off about them, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Come to think of it, what were crows doing here in this really dangerous place? It wasn't long until both of them started to fly away; but the look they had in their eyes seemed to be asking him to follow them. "I've got no time for this!"

As he turned to head out and find his teammates, Naruto found himself looking at a pair of rather large and snarling wolves with thick, iron-gray fur and glowing, bluish green eyes a good distance away. Their hackles were raised, showing their aggression towards him. They were not so far away from him that they could not pounce and attack him; and for some reason, he had a feeling both of them seemed to think he was on the menu at the moment.

{Play: "Bad Situation" by Toshiro Masuda, from "Naruto"}

The wolves both barked, and pounced! Upon landing on Naruto, they found that he had vanished into a puff of smoke upon impact. They then saw that their prey was going in the opposite direction behind them. The cheeky grin on his face had spoken volumes of his victory as he started leaping away at extremely fast speeds. At this point, he was extremely far away from them, and still gaining in distance.

Hopping through the trees quickly, he needed to get away quickly before the wolves caught up! The sound of howling was all that was needed for Naruto to turn and briefly see what was going on. "SHIT!" he shouted, with eyes widened in surprise. And it was for good reason: the wolves had somehow scaled the trees, and were chasing him down. Scratch that, they were GAINING on him! How could something that large move this fast?!

He continued to hop from branch to branch, increasing the strength of his leaps to ensure that he was gaining more distance. Unfortunately, he saw that as he sped up, so too did the wolves. Now those were some really persistent wolves! Wait a minute…there was only one wolf chasing him down, where was the other one? His question was answered the second he saw the other wolf appear from the side, right in front of his path, and kick off from the branch in his direction. Naruto was just about to change trajectory, but it was too late! The wolf was already above him, the jaws closing, and biting down on his chest below the shoulder before he could even create another bunshin.

As the wolf continued to hold Naruto in its large jaws, its falling trajectory continued on down until it landed on its paws. No sooner than it landed than when Naruto began to struggle. "PUT ME DOWN! PUT ME DOWN, YOU OVERGROWN FLEABAG!" he screamed, while flailing his arms around in a vain attempt to get the wolf to put him down. Even if the wolf could not understand the human tongue, it was obvious that the wolf didn't take kindly to his insult, and began to shake him around in an attempt to tire him out, while also slamming the rest of his body into the ground once in a while. Pretty soon, the words "PUT ME DOWN!" were replaced with "LET ME GO!", and "OVERGROWN FLEA-BAG" turned into "MUTT!"

It was at this point that he learned the hard way to be careful of what he wished for, because the wolf just wound itself up, and flung him into a tree at such a high speed that he smashed into a tree on his back before falling to the ground. He was weary, he was hurting, and he was more than a little pissed-off. Naruto had just about enough out of these wolves! Standing up was more difficult now that he was more injured, so he pulled out a kunai to help defend himself. If these wolves were going to kill him, then he was going down fighting!

However, just as he brandished the kunai in one hand, the wolf he was fighting was soon joined by its twin, and they worked fast! They clamped their jaws on his upper-arms, and rolled their heads quickly in such a manner as to dislocate his shoulders with a loud and sickening 'pop!'. They soon backed off, watching and waiting for him to kneel to the ground and screaming in pain as Naruto reflexively dropped the kunai. Did they know about his carrying the Kyūbi? If they did, then that would partially explain why they knew to use lethal force to try and take him down, as well as why they didn't give him much of a chance to recover. But that still left one question: why were they after him?

"Damn it, those two mutts are a real pain in my ass!" Naruto whispered to himself, glaring hatefully at the wolves, "But I've still got to fight! I've got to get to my team!"

As he thought of ways to get out of his current situation, he noted that his vision started taking on an orange hue. He then felt a newfound strength beginning to surge his body, but Naruto's train of thought was was interrupted when one of the wolves pounced! However, this was where things got strange: from the second the wolf kicked off, there was a flicker of movement before it began to change shape. Its limbs and paws had turned into human legs and arms as hands and feet; by the time the wolf-creature had landed on all fours on the large rock, the thick fur began to thin down, showing pale flesh on a body that was still in the middle of transforming; the wolf then pounced again using the now-fully transformed humanoid body to jump high into the air before shifting its weight back down to sit astride on Naruto's shoulders, and began to punch down very savagely and repeatedly in the face until a strong arm held the attacker back from delivering another punch.

"That's enough!" snapped a voice belonging to a woman, catching the attention of the person smashing Naruto's face in, "He's already unconscious. Our orders were to bring him back alive, you bloody idiot!" A clear look at the figure revealed that this was indeed a human woman with long arms and legs, attached to a body that was made up of lean and wiry muscle and complemented with a modestly generous bust. Over her head was a large wolf pelt with iron-gray fur, and the wolf's head secured with its maxilla resting over the top of a head with waist-length, orange tresses, and worn like a cloak. She wore a leather corset, a pair of hard leather vambraces, knee-length toeless boots, and an armored skirt. Her pale skin was pulled taut all over her muscular, lupine body and covered here and there in blue tattoos, most prominent of which being a strip of blue going down across her left eye. The woman was looking down at the figure with smouldering bluish-green eyes.

"Shut it!" shouted the figure, revealing itself to be a woman as well, "That lad needs to learn respect! And if I have to bash his wee face in for calling me a 'mutt' and a 'fleabag', then so be it!" The woman that shouted was of the same description as the woman stopping her from beating in Naruto's face, with the difference being that her blue tattoos were of a darker shade, and a different pattern on her body, especially with a blue stripe going across both of her eyes.

"And I'm right there with you, my wee sister," hissed the first woman, her grip getting even stronger, "but you know damn why you can't do that; and if you don't stop, then you're going to be tied down, while I eat your bloody dinner in front of you!"

It seemed to work. The woman let out an angry sigh as she pulled her arm free. "Fine! But he'd better be worth it!" she said, getting off the now-comatose Naruto. At this point, his now-mangled face was beginning to regenerate.

"What are you talking about?" shot back the civil sister, "Of course he's worth it! Besides, whether or not he would've survived your beating without his 'guest', I think he should have earned your respect by now."

The savage sister snorted. "The lad's lucky he can regenerate. Ah well, let's be off…it's been boring since Master died."

…

{Play: "Shadowlord's Castle" by Okabe Keiichi, from "Nier"}

[Elsewhere in Training Ground 44-a little later…]

The world was blurry when he awoke. As Naruto got up, his vision began to clear, and he found himself alone and in a clearing in the woods. Thankfully, he had regenerated while he was unconscious, but that still left the transforming she-wolves that attacked him. Where the hell were they? Were they still running around and attacking people left and right? What were they, anyway?

Naruto knew that the Inuzuka were a clan of shinobi that were skilled in using ninken as a partner, and Kakashi-sensei summoned dogs to pin down Zabuza. But short of a henge, never before had he heard of a jutsu that would allow the user to turn completely into a wolf and back.

At the moment, he was grateful that he had the Kyūbi sealed into him. If he didn't, he would've been dead. But right now, he took into stock of what he was seeing; as he looked around, he saw that he was surrounded by ash and maple trees. What was this place?

What caught his attention at the moment however, was some kind of shrine overlooking a well. The thing was made in a really strange style, and was made out of ash wood. As Naruto looked around, he found that there was a wooden pail near the well that was attached to a winching system above.

"Damn, now it's making me thirsty!" he said, his voice a bit raspy, "I don't know if the water in that well is clean or not, but I don't care. I'm taking a drink, then I'm gone!"

The pail was lowered into the well, and then pulled back up. Within the pail was very clear water; normally, Naruto would be suspicious of any water this clean, but unfortunately thirst and the desire for a quick drink had won out.

Little would he know that his destiny would be changed with that one sip…

…

_**A/N: I wonder how many people will guess what I have in store for Naruto? I also wonder who gets it right as to what two servants I decided to play the "Polymerization" card on to summon? To those who get it right, I will give you red wine and a leg of lamb to celebrate (or whatever drink-food pair you prefer). In the meantime, your reviews will determine how viable of an idea this is, so do please review, would you kindly?**_


	2. Reincarnation

_**A/N: 13 reviews…hell of a start, neh? Looks like this story has a little more promise than "Naruto: The Dark Knight - Academic Warrior", but I'll see what I can do. Do read and review, would you kindly?**_

_**Also, to those of you following "Naruto: The Dark Knight REMIXED", I would like to remind you that votes are still on for the monster you want Naruto to fight in Training Ground 44. You may choose up to five times, and the monster that earns the most votes will surprise you when the chapter comes, so do please vote.**_

…

{Play: "Mononoke Hime" by Joe Hisaishi, from "Princess Mononoke"}

[Somewhere in Training Ground 44…]

This water was too clean, and Naruto knew it. For all he knew, there was something in the water that made it look clean and fresh, but would actually kill him; the problem was that he was too thirsty to care, and the promise of a pick-me-up before he went back to his team was too good. The pail was lifted, then tilted, and then he was startled by the sound of cawing, causing him to drop the pail. He noted that the two crows from before had landed on the rim of the well.

"I wouldn't be doing that just yet." said a voice, that startled Naruto.

He then turned to see that in the area were two women. He had a pretty good idea who they were, given that one of them had transformed from a wolf and beat him senseless. Sure enough, he hopped backwards, both in fear and in anticipation, with a kunai drawn. "Who the hell are you?!"

"Calm yourself laddie, despite the fact that my idiot of a younger sister tried to kill you," at this point, the woman with the blue stripe going down her eye briefly turning to glare at the other woman, "we were supposed to bring you here alive." She then softened her gaze on Naruto. "I'm Freki, by the way."

The woman with with the stripe going across her eyes simply grunted. "Geri."

Freki turned to the two crows that were cawing right next to Naruto. "Those brainless bags of feathers really did fail at their job. You were supposed to follow the bloody idiots to this well, but you just had to ignore them."

"Well if you were supposed to bring me here alive, then why the hell did you try to kill me?!"

"What the bloody hell did you expect when you used that fancy ability to get away from us you dunderhead?!" snapped Geri, her voice starting to raise in volume, "When you ran, you didn't just piss us off, you triggered our bloody wolf-instincts to chase you and-"

Before she could say anymore, Freki snuck up from behind and covered Geri's mouth, causing the other woman to mumble and shoot an evil glare at her sister. "Please forgive my wee sister," she said, with a contrite smile on her face, "she just can't handle her temper. And when you called her a 'mutt' and a 'fleabag', it only made her want to kill you even more."

As Geri started to calm down, Naruto slowly lowered his kunai; settling down, but being no less cautious. "Where are we?"

"A secluded spot in the 'Forest of Death' as you people call it," answered Freki, "it's been here for quite some time now. And we've been guarding this area for just as long, waiting for someone to come find this place."

He had no idea for how long these two women were in the forest, but Naruto could only guess that it'd been for a very long time. "What for? Why don't you just leave?"

"Our master," this time, it was a now relaxed Geri who answered, "we were fighting beside him during a really big war, and then next thing we knew, we wound up here in this place, along with the crows. A while before he died in the war, Master said he left bits of his spirit in the well; told us that if we survive the war, that we were to look for someone that would be worthy enough to drink from this well so that he could reincarnate."

"And besides, even if we wanted to leave, this well has Master's spirit inside," continued Freki, "we can't leave the area for long, or else we'd both die."

Upon hearing that, Naruto could not help but feel sorry for them. To be tied to a well dependent on your master's power to survive, that was a real downer even to him. However, his curiosity won out in the end. "Okay, but what does that have to do with me?"

The sound of cawing had caught everyone's attention to the two crows. "Shut it you gits!" shouted Geri, clearly understanding what the two crows were saying, "You two don't deserve to speak for your failure!"

Freki sighed in exasperation. "If there's anything that those two miserable corbies are good for, it's their ability to fly about undetected, as well as their eye for quality. We all agreed long ago, that as much as we want our master back, we want him to reincarnate in someone that won't make his mistakes in life; to make better choices. For some reason, they seemed to find you more than worthy of reincarnating as him."

"So, let's say I drink the water from that well, and your Boss does his rein…whatchamacallit on me. Does this mean I'm not going to be me anymore?"

"Heavens no, you'd still be you," answered Freki, "you're just going to get his memories and his powers, as well as the ability to use his weapons."

"What's the catch?"

"Normally, the well would only grant wisdom and knowledge to whomever drinks from its waters in exchange for an eye," began Geri, "but because our master used a spell to put his spirit inside that well, he will reincarnate into the next person that drinks the water. After that, the well will work as normal, making people smarter in exchange for an eye."

Naruto had no idea what to say; on the one hand, he could be smarter even than Shikamaru, and would be even more badass! On the other, he would be blind in one side, and be forced to wear an eyepatch. Although, in all honesty, Kakashi-sensei did look pretty good wearing one.

Plus, he sort of felt bad for Freki and Geri. The two of them, and the crows were waiting here for such a long time for someone that could bring their master back to life. At this, Naruto could only wonder, who was this master that these women, and the crows seemed so loyal to? Whoever he was, he sounded like quite the guy if he earned the loyalty of two really strong women.

With his mind made up, Naruto sighed. "Does it matter which eye?"

"I don't think so," said Freki, "nor do I know if you have to pay before or after you drink the water; just that you must pay for drinking from the well with an eye."

Naruto simply walked on up to the well, and dipped the pail into the well. After pulling the pail up over the rim of the well, Naruto tipped it over and began to chug down the water. Whether they were telling the truth or not, he needed the water before he went back to his team, and so he chose not to pay with his eye just yet.

Once the contents of the pail were emptied out, Naruto put it back down by the well. He sat down, and began to wait. Ten minutes had passed, and nothing seemed to happen. "What the hell were you two talking…" before he could say anything else, his head felt like it was splitting at the seams.

It wasn't long until Naruto began to scream in agony, grabbing his head as visions and memories began to flood his mind: a large hall with long tables, and enough booze and partying to put a bar to shame; a cult of warriors wearing bear and wolf pelts that cut a swath through enemy forces in a blind rage, with Freki and Geri leading the charge; a spear that when thrown, would never miss, and was a sure-kill; and finally, his end from being eaten by a giant wolf. Throughout the ordeal, the increase in body temperature that he was experiencing seemed to add fuel to the fire, which seemed to be getting hotter and hotter.

After that came the surge of knowledge that the well provided, causing his head to pound at increasingly higher speeds before it gradually started to slow down to a leisurely pace. As he stood back up, Naruto somehow felt that the world was clearer now. He could feel the pain and the burning subside, being replaced with relief, and a sense of power he'd never felt before.

Wishing to test out his powers, Naruto shot an arm out to the side, and summoned forth an ornate long spear with an x-shaped motif protruding from below the base of the head that was arranged in such a way as to both make it more aerodynamic, without sacrificing its capabilities as a close-combat weapon. There was a grip near the head that was wrapped in leather, while the rest of the shaft had an oaken construction that was reinforced with metal wire twisting around it, and ending in a metal spike at the butt of the shaft. The entirety of the spear seemed to be giving off an aura in which strange symbols made of straight lines and angles, that he knew were called 'runes', were floating away from the spear like the embers of a fire.

He then heard a whinny from behind, and found that a horse was fading into existence. Its appearance alone seemed to mark it as a warhorse of a very high pedigree, and its eyes had a determined look about it. What distinguished this equine creature from the normal horse was that it had eight legs. This was a creature that Naruto knew very well, as he reached up and started petting the horse on the muzzle with his free hand. "Long time no see, neh?" he said, stroking the horse gently, "I've missed you, my old friend."

"Master!" said Freki and Geri simultaneously, "We await your command!" At that moment, even the crows, whose names Naruto had just remembered, had bowed their heads to him in reverie.

"Now's not the time to bow," he said, causing both women to look up at him, "we have a lot of work to do. I may not be the Master you know anymore, but I swear to you; there will be changes. But first thing's first…"

…

[Elsewhere in Training Ground 44…]

Sabaku no Gaia was done with her latest kill of three foolish genin from Amegakure no Sato. It was too easy for her, and it was clear to her siblings that she was not satisfied yet. "It's not enough," she said to herself, finding a chakra spike in a particular area, "I need…"

Before she could continue that train of thought, she felt something surging from all directions. It was as though she were caught in a tsunami that swept her off her feet. For a good few seconds, even though she was standing still, she felt like she was being tossed about by the waves. And then, just as this feeling of helplessness was at its peak, the

"What was that?" asked Kankuro, looking around worriedly with the Heaven Scroll clutched in his hands. It was obvious to Gaia that he'd felt it too.

"I don't know, but whatever it is, it's powerful," uttered Temari, her eyes searching the entire area, "this is _**way**_ beyond anything I've ever seen or heard of. We got what we came for, now we need to get out of here."

As loathe as she was to admit it, Temari was right. Taking a few steps away from Gaia had felt that whatever this power was, it outstripped the power of 'mother'. One would think that she would be terrified by whatever it was that let out that surge of power, but they were wrong; she wasn't afraid, she'd just found a real challenge.

Once Team Gaia was out of the area, three figures had slowly peeked out from the bushes. One of them was a boy with sunglasses and an afro on his head, wearing a seafoam green hoodie named Aburame Shino. He was the only boy in the three-genin team.

One girl wore a fur-lined hoodie and her hitai-ate on her forehead. On her face were a pair of red, triangular fang-marks that labeled this girl as a member of the Inuzuka clan. Resting on her developing breasts was the puppy she'd been paired with, named Benihime. Her name was Inuzuka Kira, one of the heiresses of the Inuzuka Clan.

The other girl had indigo hair that was done up in a bob. Like her two teammates, she wore a hoodie, and her hitai-ate was worn around her neck. The white eyes identified as Hyūga, and her name was Hyūga Hinata.

"Damn, that was close! I never thought that bitch would ever leave!" said Kira, looking at the mess that was left behind, "what was that?"

"I doubt we should stay to find out," Shino said in a matter-of-factly tone, "we should leave now, before whatever let out that surge of power decides to come looking for us."

"On that, I think we can agree," answered Kira, "something about that power scares me."

{Play: "Die" by Jeff Williams, from "RWBY}

They were brought out of their planning process by the sound of barking and roaring. Team Eight had turned to face the direction of the sound, and watched as a large fox did battle with a slightly larger tiger. The tiger managed to successfully land a hit on the fox's head, causing it to lose balance and fall in such a manner that the eye was impaled by a sharp branch. The fox managed to recover just in time to pull its head out of the branch from the tiger moving in to smash his face. The fox then managed to flank the tiger, tackle it in such a manner as to have the tiger land on the sharp branch, and then leap back. The tiger got back up, and barely managed to stand as the branch had penetrated a very vulnerable spot in its neck. It wasn't long until the tiger fell to the ground dead, blood pooling under its body.

As soon as it was done, the fox started eating the carcass before it turned and noticed that Team 8 was watching. Its now one-eyed gaze seemed to pin them down, freezing them with the air of defiance and majesty it carried itself with before it went back to eating the tiger. Once it was done eating its fill, the fox disappeared back into the forest.

It was Kira that broke the silence. "Okay, let's get out of here before anything weird like that happens again."

"Agreed."

As the rest of Team 8 started leaving, Hinata stayed behind. She could not help but think that this was a sign. "Naruto-kun…"

Deciding to ponder the meaning of what they'd just seen later, Hinata ran off with her team.

…

_**A/N: I wonder how many people will guess what I have in store for Naruto? To those who get it right, I will give you red wine and a leg of lamb to celebrate (or whatever drink-food pair you prefer). In the meantime, your reviews will determine how viable of an idea this is, so do please review, would you kindly?**_

…

_**Servant Statistics**_

_Real Name: Freki and Geri_

_Birthdate: Unknown_

_Race: Unknown_

_Servant Class: None_

_Class Qualifications: Assassin/Berserker_

_Master: Naruto_

_Gender: Female_

_Hair Color: Orange_

_Eye Color: Bluish Green_

_Likes: Meaty dishes (the bloodier the better), Alcohol, their Master_

_Dislikes: 'Those bloody bags of feathers!', being called any dog insult (especially to Geri)_

_**Servant Parameters:**_

_Strength: B (Freki) | A (Geri)_

_Agility: A (Freki) | B (Geri)_

_Endurance: B (Freki) | A (Geri)_

_Mana: C_

_Luck: B (Freki) | C (Geri)_

_Noble Phantasm: B_

_**Class Skills:**_

_Mad Enhancement: C (Freki) | B (Geri)_

_Independent Action: C_

_**Personal Skills:**_

_Eternal Arms Mastership: A+ (Freki) | B (Geri)_

_**Noble Phantasm:**_

_**Ulfhednar: Destined for Valhalla | Anti-Unit | A++**_

_Takes the form of a wolf pelt that is worn like a cloak. Allows the wearers to shift between human form and wolf form, turning them into literal werewolves. While fully in wolf-form, Agility and Endurance increase by two ranks, and grants a D-ranked Presence Concealment skill, but the wearer becomes a Beast instead of a Servant. Being midway between wolf- and human-forms will effectuate a rank-up to Strength, Agility, and Endurance, as well as a rank-up in Mad Enhancement._

_**Lycanthropy: Bloody Sacrifice | Anti-Army (Freki)/Anti-Unit (Geri)/Anti-Fortress (Freki and Geri) | None**_

_This Noble Phantasm takes the form of an attack that can only be used while in half-wolf form. Damage by the attack is determined by whether or not the twins are alone. If they are alone, then which twin initiates the attack is the next factor. If Freki were to perform her own version, then it is a high-DPS attack that takes the form of a multi-hit combo, best for cutting through large groups of up to at least 100 targets; if Geri were to do it, then it would be a single attack that ignores armor, and would deal very heavy damage to a single target. If both twins use it, then their damage potential increases dramatically._


	3. Servants

_**A/N: There will be action in this chapter…hopefully it's up to standard for a 4k chapter. As to the identity of the Servants I've fused together to give us Odin! Naruto, the answer is: "The Hound of Chulainn" and the "King of Conquerors". Do read and review, would you kindly?**_

_**Also, to those of you following "Naruto: The Dark Knight REMIXED", I would like to remind you that votes are still on for the monster you want Naruto to fight in Training Ground 44. You may choose up to five times, and the monster that earns the most votes will surprise you when the chapter comes, so do please vote.**_

…

[Training Ground 44━the next day…]

Sakura sat around with her charge sleeping on her lap. Contrary to what people seemed to think, she wasn't a fangirl devoid of any practical skills, which was why she hid out in this hollowed out section of a tree. One way in, one way out. And to fortify their position, she'd set up some textbook traps to ensure that nobody got in the perimeter.

It all happened so fast yesterday. One moment, all of Team 7 was together, then the next, a really big snake just slithered out of nowhere and swallowed Naruto whole. Afterwards, the woman that summoned that snake decided to show up and fight Sasuke. The last Uchiha put up a bit of a fight, but it was clear that the Kusa kunoichi was only toying with him. Sasuke-kun then used her array of jutsu to really get serious. And just when things were starting to look up, her idol was about to go on to the charred corpse of his opponent to get the scroll when they'd heard laughing. It was was an insane laugh that sent chills up her spine. And then the Kusa kunoichi had revealed herself to be Konoha's greatest traitor: Orochimaru!

The monster of a human being then bit Sasuke in the neck. Whatever he did, had knocked her idol out in one blow. Somehow, Sakura didn't think for a second that he was done with them yet. And Naruto, that golden-haired idiot, just had to get himself eaten! If she could just find him, she would beat him up for being an inconvenience, and get everyone to the central tower herself if she had to! Assuming of course that he was still alive. If he was dead, then she was going to be more than upset with him when they dug his grave.

She would deal with him later; right now, Sasuke-kun needed help. They'll find that idiot together one way or another!

As Sakura took a closer look at her idol, she began to take stock of everything. Pale skin, raven-colored hair, overall a very pretty picture. She'd tried to ask if he wanted to hang out many times, only to be rejected multiple times. Her latest attempt had Sasuke outright insulting her by saying that Sakura was so weak that even Naruto was better than her. What was his deal? All she wanted to do was to hang out!

Maybe she'll try again after the exams were over with, but what Sasuke had said had gotten her thinking; was she really that weak?

"Well lookee here! We have ourselves a lone genin team!" said a voice from above. Sakura looked up and saw, to her horror that there was a genin team in the area. One of them was bandaged heavily, and wore a long-sleeved kimono, another wore a yellow shirt with the word 'death' written on it with a red kanji. The only girl of the team had a beige vest, and an urban camouflage scarf around her neck. The musical note on their hitai-ate had identified them all as shinobi from that new village; Otogakure no Sato.

"Impossible," she said to herself. Shaking herself free of her momentary look of shock, Sakura drew her kunai, and slipped into another stance. "I set up traps!"

"That was pathetic," snorted the girl, pulling out a strand of wire that Sakura knew all too well where it was from, "if this is the level of Konoha's genin when it comes to trap-making, then we've got this part of the exams in the bag!"

"What did you expect? Because Konoha has lowered its graduation standards, they're supposed to _**be**_ that weak!" said the boy in yellow. His words only poured salt on the wound for Sakura.

"Tell you what, since you're obviously weak, we'll let you go," said the genin with the long sleeves, a sneer creasing under his bandages, "so long as you let us kill Uchiha Sasuke!"

Despite the amount of fear she felt at the situation, Sakura held her ground. Her knees trembled, but she did her absolute best to not let those genin murder Sasuke-kun in her sleep! She threw her kunai at one of the genin, only to watch one disappear in a Shunshin, and the reappear behind her, stomping down behind Sakura's knees and using one hand to threaten her neck, while the other pulled on her hair. "What nice hair you've got," taunted the girl, obviously taking pleasure in her pain, "maybe you'd be a lot stronger if you focused more on your training than on how stylish your hair looked! Take care of it, Zaku!"

"I'm right there with you, Kin!" said the boy in yellow, cracking his knuckles as he walked leisurely towards Sasuke.

The girl named Kin stood Sakura up, and forced her to watch as Zaku pulled out a kunai. Every step he made had only served to increase Sakura's shame in herself that she couldn't do anything.

Just as Zaku neared the entrance into the hollow of the tree, a green blur had appeared from out of nowhere and planted a kick square in his face, sending him flying. "How un-youthful!" said the attacker, revealing it to be Rock Lee, "Attacking a shinobi still in the middle of recovering! Have you no shame?"

"Zankūha!" Lee barely had time to dodge, and was grazed by a sound-wave that was blasted at him from afar. He was soon attacked by Zaku's bandaged colleague, who revealed that his arm was covered with a porous gauntlet, and punched him with it. Lee was soon rendered sick by the attack.

"To hell with honor," said the bandaged member of the Oto genin team, "we're shinobi! We LIVE for dishonor!"

"You tell 'em Dosu!" chipped in Zaku, before he noted that more people had arrived. "Well, well…looks like the homo busybody has support doesn't he?"

As if on cue, two forms had appeared from the trees. One of the shapes that revealed themselves was a girl with buns in her brown hair. She wore a pink, sleeveless shirt, and dark pants, and she seemed to be looking around cautiously. Her hitai-ate was worn around her forehead. Sakura had seen her around once or twice, and heard her name was Hibiki Tenten.

The other was a girl with long, black hair and beige clothes. The white eyes had identified her as a member of the Hyūga clan, and her demeanor seemed to match a lot of the Hyūga that Sakura had run into. She also knew that this girl with the hitai-ate on her head was Rookie of the Year before Sasuke, and was likely a much better kunoichi than her idol (loathe as she was to admit it). This was Hyūga Nami.

"What, you want some?" taunted Zaku.

"Why don't you finish your business first?" asked Nami, pointing behind them, "I think someone's going to fight you now."

Sakura had no idea what the Hyūga was talking about, but she soon understood as soon as she heard the sound of a struggle. She was witness to her captor being struggling as Sasuke-kun was holding her in a blood-choke. The second Kin went limp, Sasuke let her slump to the ground in unconsciousness before he turned his attention to the other genin in the area. There was a sadistic grin on his face that seemed to frighten everyone in the area.

[Play: "Evil" by Toshiro Masuda from "Naruto"]

There was no doubt in her mind that something was wrong with Sasuke, and Sakura knew it. As she reached out to catch Sasuke's attention, she recoiled in pain. There were no wounds, but it felt like she was burned somehow.

However, before she could try to understand what was going on, Sasuke had moved quickly to punch Zaku in the face. He didn't stop there, as he followed through by kicking him into the air and then following through with a second kick that sent him flying.

The Oto genin recovered from the vicious kicks, and started snarling. Zaku roared: "You're dead man, Uchiha! DEAD!"

At that moment, Zaku pointed both of his arms and aimed. "Zankūkyokuha!" The blast of air that was fired from his palms was enough to take down a line of trees in one go. As soon as the dust cleared, he soon began to feel confident enough to drop his hands. That is…until he felt someone grab him by the wrists and plant a foot on his back. "You seem to be proud of these arms," said a very frightening voice from behind him, "maybe I should tear them off…"

The pressure on his arms had increased, and Zaku could feel the pain in his shoulders and his humerus as Sasuke began to pull. This had the effect of making his screams more pained as time went by.

After a few moments, a loud and sickening 'pop', followed by a 'crack' was heard through Zaku's screams. However, this was interrupted the second a 'bang' sounded off from the distance, causing Nami to seek out the source of the sound using the Byakugan. Apparently, Sasuke had heard that sound too, because he immediately released Zaku from his grip just in time for something to dive down and end the Oto genin's screams of suffering as it pierced his spine, likely cutting through his heart and lungs, and shot right out of his sternum before settling into the ground.

A closer inspection of what had killed the genin had revealed that he was impaled from behind with a spear with blades arranged in an x-shaped formation. Nami was nearly blinded as she inspected the weapon; it was hard to track it because it was emitting a blinding light to her eyes, as if the thing were made entirely of chakra.

However, her train of thought was interrupted when the sound of paws hitting the ground that was quickly increasing in volume. When everyone had turned to face the direction in which the sound was coming from, they spotted two gigantic forms that came from out of nowhere! One of the forms had leaped into the air in a grayish blur, and took off Dosu's head in one pass. That blur skidded off to the side, before pausing. As soon as it came to a complete stop, it was revealed, much to the fear of everyone present, that it was a wolf that was about the size of a small workhorse. It had iron-gray fur, glowing blue-green eyes and Dosu's head in its proportionally large mouth that was soon snapped up.

The second blur had soon revealed itself as a second wolf that looked exactly like the first wolf that had appeared, with the addition of a rider. On its back sat a woman with pure orange hair that covered her reasonably-sized assets; but it did nothing to hide the fact that she was stark naked, with a body even Nami would have been ashamed to admit she'd kill for. Long and slim legs accentuated coppertoned skin pulled taut on an athletically-built body, and her arms were thin but strong. She had a heart-shaped face that looked upon the area with an unamused expression, and piercing red eyes that seemed to sparkle with a strange combination of mischief, savagery, and regality. Whoever she was, this was not a woman to trifle with, and even Sasuke in his now insanity-clouded eyes seemed to acknowledge it.

Nobody said anything, even as the wolf stalked towards Zaku. The woman placed a hand on the spear, as the wolf placed a paw on his back. A single pull was all it took to wrench the weapon out of the ground, and out of the dead genin's back. The woman twirled the spear in one hand, splattering blood everywhere before getting an even better grip on it. The other wolf had long swallowed Dosu's head, before walking towards his body, watching as the woman reached out a hand, calling forth a pair of flaming spheres from their bodies. Once the spheres had come to a hover near her shoulders, both of the wolves began digging into their respective carcasses; starting with the organs, much to the disgust of all the genin in the area.

"Hey!" called out Sasuke, getting everyone's attention and momentarily disturbing the wolves from their meal, "You stole my kill, bitch!"

"You need to be grateful, Uchiha," spat the woman, pointing the spear at Sasuke, "it is by my master's command that you and that pink-haired wench are saved, and it is by my master's command that I could kill you all and feed you to his wolves!"

At this point, the wolves had finished feasting on the two Oto genin, having swallowed their bodies up, bones and all. "It's time we leave," said the woman, kicking her heels on the sides of the wolf, while also letting out a whistle before the both of them could start lapping up the blood from the ground, "we have what we came for. There's no need for anymore bloodshed…for now at least."

With that said, the woman started riding away on the back of the wolf. However, a blue and white blur had shot past everyone's shoulders, flying towards the woman. Her response was simply to stop the wolf, steady herself on the back, and swing the spear in such a manner that the blur came to a complete stop onto the shaft, revealing it to have been Sasuke, before he was flung back to the ground.

The woman dismounted from the wolf she was riding; there was no change from her expression, but there was pure fury in her eyes as she walked towards Sasuke. She only paused to take notice of a meaningful look from the free wolf. "I know, don't kill him; just hurt him a lot so he learns a lesson." she then twirled the spear around before driving the butt-spike into the ground. "And besides, I'm not going to need his spear to beat the Uchiha's ass to the ground."

After cracking her knuckles, the woman vanished in a loud 'swoosh' before reappearing right in front of Sasuke just as he'd managed to get back up. Even in his Curse Mark-induced insanity, he could not help but be afraid. But he managed to get enough of his nerve back to slip into a stance, only for the woman to lift her leg up fast enough for her shin to make contact with his groin and lift him into the air. The pain was so unbearable that he could not fight back as the woman managed to spin-kick him in midair, causing him to slam into a tree. However, she was not done yet, as she grabbed him by the throat as soon as he hit the tree, and followed through with three punches to the stomach, before throwing him back towards the two teams. The second he flew back into the clearing where the remaining genin were at, they watched with hanging jaws as she grabbed him by the ankle and began to thrash him around with very little effort before throwing him hard into the ground with enough force to make a crater upon impact.

The woman then looked down into the crater, and spat off to the side. "Be grateful I'm not any more serious than I am now! Because if I were, then it would've ended with me utterly destroying you. Don't ever do anything like that to me again, Uchiha-trash, or else I will have to find out which part of you will break first: your spirit, or your body. Pray that I never get that curious, for your sake!" She then turned to pin Sakura down with a glare. "I hope this will have opened your eyes, brat. Make sure you tighten the leash on your Uchiha-dog, or else I will kill him for sure! Master's orders be damned!"

Once she was done with her little beat-down of Sasuke, the woman pulled the spear out of the ground, and got back on the wolf's back. As she began to ride away back into the forest, the genin thought they'd heard her say something like "Puny boy" under her breath.

Nobody dared to say anything for a moment…not that they had anything to say as to what they'd just witnessed…

…

{Play: "Marine Swordsman's Battlecry" from "One Piece"}

[Elsewhere in the Forest of Death━fifteen minutes later…]

All was silent, now that the battle was over. Pinned to a tree was a genin with a primitive-looking spear that was suspending him over the ground. He'd been dead for not too long, having bled out given that the spear had penetrated his heart; this was the first victim. The next victim was found on the ground, having bled to the death. She'd first had her right arm cut off, then her left arm, then both her legs followed.

As of now, Naruto held an Iwagakure genin at sword-point using a blade he'd made out of stone and runes. The tip of the blade was threatening the Iwagakure team leader with death, a threat that seemed to be made all the more real with the glowing runes on the blade, and Naruto's glaring right eye. It would've been classed as a tsurugi-type blade, with a grip that was long enough to accommodate a two-handed grip, but was light enough to be usable in one hand.

The team leader had seen firsthand how deadly the sword was. At first, he'd thought that stone was a very primitive weapon to be using on solid steel weapons. That notion died a gruesome death when he saw the blade cut through his female teammate's body-hardening kekkei genkai that was called "Tekkai". And he'd seen members of her family take a lot of kunai being thrown at them at high speeds without so much as a scratch.

"I really doubt you'd make it to the finals, even if I did let you live," said Naruto, watching as the boy cowered before him, "the way I see it, you have two choices. Now, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way. The easy way being that you tell me which of you has the scroll; after that, we go our separate ways, you never come back to Konoha, and you go off to some monastery to pray for your comrades."

"A…an…and the hard way?"

"Do you really want to know what the hard way is? Oh yeah, and by the way, lying to me is considered 'hard way' material."

The Iwagakure team leader's silence was very telling. He started scrambling around in his robes, and found the very scroll he was looking for. "Very good, now scram."

As though on cue, the Iwagakure leader ran off into the wild unknowns. His fate was of no consequence to Naruto anymore. The sound of the paws hitting the ground at high speeds was of no concern to him; he already knew who was here. "You got here just in time, Kurama," he said casually, picking up the scroll, "did you enjoy the gift I lent you?"

"More than you know," said the voice revealing itself to be Kurama, as she dismounted. She then took notice of the corpses in the area. "And I see we have new souls."

"They attacked me first. They thought they found an easy one-eyed target, and they were going to kill me, take my scroll, then use my blood to see if I'm related to the Kīroi Senko," said Naruto, turning around to regard Kurama's naked form, "And are you ever going to make yourself presentable before seeing me?"

"Maybe, maybe not," teased Kurama, attracting the two new flaming spheres she'd summoned from the corpses. After paying for the drink from the well with his eye, Naruto had cast Kurama out of his body using his newly-discovered Rune Magic skill, and then used his chakra to make runes that added flesh and bone to her then-formless shape. Since then, she'd been made into his first Valkyrie, tasked with the responsibility of seeking out souls to add to his Reality Marble. "So, I suppose your orders will be to continue using Gungnir in your place?"

"Until it's time for me to show myself," he said, "something tells me that it's going to be soon enough…"

…

_**A/N: As usual, if this chapter is too short, then I shall apologize for any quality decrease. In any case, do be so as to read and review, would you kindly?**_

…

_**Vocabulary:**_

_**tsurugi━this type of **_

…

_**Cameos/References:**_

_**The Dark Knight Rises━Kurama uses a remark by Bane, the whole quote being "Ah yes, I was wondering what would break first! Your spirit, OR YOUR BODY?!"**_

_**The Avengers━modified from "Puny God", and Kurama even thrashes him around for a bit too.**_

_**Monty Python and the Holy Grail━How the kunoichi died after fighting Naruto.**_

_**One Piece━one of the Rokushiki powers is called "Tekkai"**_

…

_**Servant Statistics**_

_Real Name: Uzumaki Naruto_

_Birthdate: October 13_

_Race: Human/Aesir_

_Servant Class: Rider_

_Class Qualifications: Lancer/Berserker/Caster/Assassin/Rider_

_Master: None_

_Gender: Male_

_Hair Color: Blond_

_Eye Color: Blue_

_Likes: Ramen, His Precious People, Gardening_

_Dislikes: The time it takes to make ramen, People hurting his precious people, Several of Odin's decisions_

_**Servant Parameters:**_

_Strength: B_

_Agility: A_

_Endurance: A_

_Mana: EX_

_Luck: C_

_Noble Phantasm: B_

_**Class Skills:**_

_Riding: A+_

_Magic Resistance: B_

_**Personal Skills:**_

_Bravery: A+_

_This was already native to Naruto before Odin even reincarnated in him._

_Rune Magic: EX_

_Has a thorough understanding of Runes to the point that he now has a Rank B Item Construction skill that he uses to make items out of runes, as well as to enchant mundane items to become Rank C to Rank B Noble Phantasms _

_Divinity: B_

_He is the Reincarnation of Odin, and so his current rank in this skill is B...will eventually become EX over time._

_Charisma: B_

_His rank in this skill was originally C, but his recent reincarnation as Odin has effectuated a rank-up._

_**Noble Phantasm:**_

_**Gungnir: The Declaration of the Elder God | Anti-Unit | Rank: C**_

_The spear of Odin that Naruto has inherited. Not as powerful as its descendant, Gae Bolg, but powerful enough to kill the target through sheer impact alone._

_When its name is invoked, and the owner has a target in mind, the spear will increase speed upon being thrown. If by some miracle the target is able to avoid being hit, the spear will open and travel through a portal through time and space; increasing its momentum while traveling before opening another portal at the target mere milliseconds after they dodge._

_The spear's damage is dependent on the user's Luck statistic, and can be modified by Runes, making a bit more versatile than Gae Bolg._

_**Valhalla: The Soldier's Heaven | Anti-Army | Rank: E~EX**_

_A Reality Marble once owned by Odin, and now owned by Naruto. It allows him to store the souls of warriors who have been slain in battle within a fortress built around a mead hall._

_Upon being taken to the fortress, the souls are reformed and transformed into Einherjar; Classless Servants with a Rank E Independent Action, a Rank B Mad Enhancement, and a Rank C Magic Resistance. Because they are of larger number, the Einherjar are the main offensive force. The chances of becoming an Einherjar increase if the soul was a Berserker in life._

_Some female souls are converted into Valkyries instead, with Rank A Independent Action, Rank B Mad Enhancement, and a Rank C Riding Skill. During peacetime, it is their duty to find more souls to turn into Einherjar, but a good number of them also tend the bar at the Hall. In battle, they serve as scouts and fast-attack troops for the army._

_The fortress and the hall itself increase in size, relative to the number of Einherjar and Valkyries living there. No matter how big or small, Valhalla has enough space to also accommodate Phantasmal Beasts such as the eight-legged horse Sleipnir and ravens Huginn and Muninn._

_The owner of the Marble can either summon forth souls from the Hall, be they human or animal, or they can bring targets into the Marble so that the tenants within will bring death to the user's enemies._

_The Noble Phantasm's rank is determined by how many Servants reside in the fortress. After the Ragnarok, all Einherjar and Valkyries have died out, emptying out the Reality Marble, but it is gradually beginning to gain back its numbers…_

_**More to come…**_


	4. Final Justice

_**A/N: After a long wait, here's the latest chapter. I also apologize for any loss of quality here. Do read and review, would you kindly?**_

_**Also, to those of you following "Naruto: The Dark Knight REMIXED", I would like to remind you that votes are still on for the monster you want Naruto to fight in Training Ground 44. You may choose up to five times, and the monster that earns the most votes will surprise you when the chapter comes, so do please vote.**_

…

[Team Seven's current location…]

There was nothing said between Sakura and Sasuke as they traversed the Forest of Death. It was not too long ago that Nami and Tenten had taken their teammate Rock Lee with them and left. The fact that Sasuke had been beaten this brutally was a bit of an eye-opener for Sakura; how Orochimaru had beaten him was already a bad enough experience for her, but to see that other woman walk up to him and beat him up even more brutally was traumatizing for her.

They had to go through this, because this part of the exam needed all three of them to be at the central tower with the a Heaven and an Earth scroll before the fifth day. And right now, they've taken up almost three days in total, not including the beatdown that Sasuke had to endure. Thankfully, that girl Kin, who was awake long enough to watch as her teammates were eaten by the wolves, saw no point in continuing the exams and gave them her scroll. However, it still didn't help the damage to his pride that came after the wolves ate their fill.

"You look lost," said a voice from above. Sasuke and Sakura looked up and saw a bespectacled genin standing on a branch above them. He had silver hair and brown eyes, and was wearing white and blue clothes. They both knew who this was, considering that a few days ago, he openly admitted to taking the exam at least five times.

"What do you want, Kabuto?" spat Sasuke.

"It seems I'm separated from my team," answered Kabuto, obviously not shaken by the terse tone that Sasuke had taken with him, "and since I found you, I figured we could cooperate…at least until the end of this part of these exams."

"Unfortunately for you, we're still looking for our idiot teammate," answered Sasuke, "moron got himself eaten by a big-ass snake. I swear, if we find him dead, then I'm pissing on his corpse."

"I'm touched you care Sasuke," said a voice that had caught everyone's attention. Even though there was sarcasm in the voice, it was a very welcome one considering the situation. Everyone turned to see Naruto was in the area. His clothes looked like he'd just come out of a fight with a blender, but there was a very disturbing difference in his appearance; his left eye was closed, with a scratch going down his face. In one hand was a strange-looking weapon; a double-edged sword with a knapped stone blade and a leather-wrapped hilt. "Seriously, why all the hate?"

"Where were you?" asked Sakura, finally finding her voice, "And where did you get that sword?"

"Oh, this?" Naruto indicated the sword, showing the face of the blade to both Kabuto and his teammates. There was a bunch of indecipherable scribbles written in what looked like red ink. "I just happened to find it. Nasty thing this is; it's dull and made of stone, but it can cut better than steel."

Upon hearing that, Kabuto could not help but raise an eyebrow at that remark. A stone blade capable of cutting better than steel? Now that was interesting; although it didn't take a genius to figure out that those strange words written on the blade were the reason that this primitive blade could outmatch steel. Was it some kind of fūinjutsu that reinforced it? Either way, he needed to keep an eye out for the blade's full potential.

"Look, let's not dwell on it. Do we still have the scroll?" asked Naruto, wondering exactly what the situation was like.

"We still do." answered Sakura, wondering where Naruto was going with that.

"Then we're in luck," he said, before reaching into his pocket and revealing a Heaven scroll to the team. "I found this on a group of dead Iwa genin. We're all set!"

"Hmph! At least you're useful at something," said Sasuke, "even if it _**is**_ for scavenging."

"Beggars can't be choosers, Sasuke-teme."

With that said, Team Seven and Kabuto left the area. They were on the clock after all.

…

[Team Eight's current location…]

The pitch black of the forest had made it clear that it was nighttime in the Forest of Death. Crickets were chirping, owls were hooting, overall a deceptively peaceful atmosphere were it not for the fact that other genin teams were around, threatening to slit the throats of sleeping teams just for their scrolls.

Breaking through the sounds of nature was the crackling of a campfire burning out. Team Eight had just finished getting the scrolls they needed, and they were near the center of the tower. However, they'd been traveling for too long without sleep, which is why they'd made camp in a relatively secure location. They were tired, but they weren't stupid, which was why security measures were taken; Benihime was by far the lightest sleeper, and was kept on high alert, but Shino's kikaichu were scattered throughout the area to act as an extra set of eyes. In addition, they all slept very lightly so that in the event of trouble, they would be able to escape fairly easily.

{Play: "Fūhen" by Rin', from "Samurai 7"}

None of them were aware of the incandescent form that walked towards them silently. The golden light that the being emitted was soft, having a slight range in comparison to the white light that obscured details of the person. It had a feminine shape, with a slightly generous bust that made it even more obvious that it was a woman.

Its stance made it clear that this mysterious woman had come to the right place. As she silently took steps towards the slumbering genin, the woman looked at all of them with eyes obscured by the light it was giving off. Were someone able to see the eyes beneath the light, they would have seen that she was searching them for something.

It was not clear what it was that the woman wanted, but from the approving nod she gave, it was clear that she'd found what she was looking for.

…

[Team Seven's current location─the next day…]

Finally, after a while of trudging through the Forest of Death, Team Seven had arrived, and Kabuto had walked towards his team. They'd just gotten out of a tussle with an Amegakure team that relied on genjutsu to win their fights, with Naruto decapitating one of the genin using his stone sword. He was most certainly not kidding when he said the blade cut better than steel; the only thing that could come close to making a cut that clean would be freshly-broken glass.

However, that only brought forth more questions about the sword as both teams wondered exactly what other secrets the training ground hid away. Luckily for Naruto, he was far away from the scene of the battle when he'd subtly absorbed the boy's soul. Another warrior drafted into his army; but he knew that the bar would eventually be packed with patrons that pretty much partied and fought like in the days before the Ragnarok happened. As they stepped into the tower, they noted that the room was empty. "Well, now that we're here, what do we do?" asked Sakura in bewilderment.

"I think now would be the time to open the scrolls," said Sasuke, taking command of the situation, "but just in case, I think we should open them at the same time."

"Great idea, but who will open them?"

"I will do the honors," sneered Sasuke, "since you seem too chicken to do so now."

Before anyone could say a word, Naruto drove the tip of his sword into the ground; the writing was taking on a menacing glow. "If it's so honorable, then I should be doing that too," he said, reaching down for the scroll, "besides, what have I got to lose?"

Seeing as nobody tried to stop Naruto, he had a hand on the scroll. He simply knelt over it, holding it at the ready to unravel it at the same time. "We'll do it at the count of three," said Sasuke, "1…2…3!"

In an instant, the two scrolls were unfurled at the same time. No sooner than when both scrolls were opened than a puff of smoke had burst from them. As it cleared, a single form had revealed itself from the smoke. "Long time no see, Iruka-sensei." said Naruto, standing up to pull the sword out of the ground before shouldering it.

"Good to see you too, Naruto." said Iruka, "It's actually good to see that you…oh my god! What happened to your eye?"

"I had a bit of an accident, and wound up getting it stuck in a branch," said Naruto, still painfully remembering how he lost his eye, "don't worry, I won't be a liability."

The look of confusion on Sakura's face made it clear that she had a question. "I don't understand Iruka-sensei, what's the point of this part of the exam?"

"It's simple really," began Iruka, "in addition to reviewing your skills in a battlefield situation, we wanted to see how you would handle a mission involving classified items. If any team opened the scrolls before they got here, then they would've been blinded with a genjutsu."

Satisfied with her answer, Sakura nodded. She could see the point of it; there were times that missions parameters were on a need-to-know basis, and this part of the test would've shown how trustworthy the candidates were when handling classified documents. Plus, it also showcased their ability to take intelligence from the enemy. All in all, a very brilliant move in testing genin.

"I would go to the next room," said Iruka, "the Hokage's going to address all the genin teams that made it."

It was at this point that he began to take a very good look at all the genin that'd made it. Much less than he'd thought, but he had a feeling that something was different. As Naruto looked around, something caught his eye; at first glance, he was looking at Team Eight passing through. They seemed to behave normally enough, but he knew that something was off-he just couldn't put his finger on it. Well, not yet at least.

"Greetings, Genin!" called out the voice of the Hokage, "Congratulations on making it this far in the Chūnin Exams! Since you've all proven your skill thus far, I think it's time to tell you all the truth behind them."

Upon hearing word of the truth about the exams, there was nothing but dead silence. "You've all been told that this is done to determine your worth as chūnin. That is indeed true, the fact of the matter is that these exams are being held as a substitute for war."

"What?!" shouted a pig-tailed genin, outraged at what it was that she was hearing, "Well if that's the case, then what the hell are we taking these exams for?"

"These exams are used as a way to make war without actually going to war," said the Hokage, addressing the young girl from Sunagakure, "as some of you might know, the daimyo are coming from every corner of the country to witness these exams in the next month. They will be the ones to judge if you are worthy as chūnin; your progress up until now, as well as whether or not you defeat your opponents has no bearing on it. So in a way, our countries are still at war with each other-and like any war, even though I frown upon it, you are allowed to kill your fellow genin in these exams. I wish you all good luck!"

With that said, the Hokage vanished in a puff of smoke. In his place stood a shinobi in a jōnin flak jacket and his hitai-ate worn like a bandana on his head. He looked like he'd seen better days. "The names Gekkō Hayate, and I'll be the proctor for this part of the exams," said the jōnin, taking the time to cough in his hand. "Normally, we'd send assign match-ups for the semi-finals, and send you guys off to train, but there's too many of you this year; which means we're going to have to deal with you all in an elimination round. But before we go on, is there anyone that wants to leave?"

The crowd had parted ways when a single hand was raised, belonging to Yakushi Kabuto. "I'd like to leave, Proctor," he said, catching Naruto's attention, "I think I used too much chakra to continue. With your permission, I'd like to bow out."

With a silent gesture from the proctor, Kabuto left the arena. Naruto simply looked on at the bespectacled genin…their eyes met for a brief moment. It was at this point that he gave the veteran of the exams the 'I'm watching you' hand sign. And as Kabuto passed on out, he started burning an invisible hole in the back of his head with his only eye.

"Now then, I want you all to look up on the board. When your name shows up, you will step forth and face your opponent down here." Upon hearing that, everyone stayed silent as the names on the electronic signboard were being flashing through at high speeds. Tensions were raised as they started coming to a slowing stop; until finally, it came to two names: Uchiha Sasuke, and Akado Yoroi.

"Everybody but Akado Yoroi and Uchiha Sasuke, up on the bleachers."

{Play: "Bad Situation" by Toshiro Masuda, from "Naruto"}

It didn't take long for everyone to follow that order. Everyone but the two names on the board had stayed behind. Upon landing in the bleachers, Naruto simply gazed down at the fight down below, not caring that Kakashi had arrived. His attention was on Sasuke's fight.

As Sasuke and Yoroi battled it out on the arena floor, Naruto watched as the fight unfolded. He trained his remaining eye on the fight below, watching as Sasuke tried to escape from the clutches of the genin's chakra-draining jutsu. The Curse Mark on Sasuke's neck was preventing him from using any of his jutsu or his precious Sharingan. His analysis of the seal, as well as Kurama's report, was that it granted whomever it was given to an extra boost in power. However, it was also clear to him that if someone had the power to give him this boost in power, they also had the power to take and or hold it back. Whoever was doing this to the boy was either a sadist, was testing him, or a sick combination of both…but he could not deny that the seal was very effective at its job, no matter how crude it was. It was at this point, Naruto had resolved to find whoever it was that did this to Sasuke, and kill the bastard.

Naruto watched as the match had come to an end. Sasuke had managed to get down low, and land a kick from below his opponent's chin, sending Yoroi into the air; but he wasn't done yet, because he used the momentum of the kick to get into a crouch, and use the ground to spring him into the air after Yoroi. Once he was close enough, Sasuke landed a light kick to Yoroi's side. "Not good enough!" he chuckled, before watching helplessly as the Last Uchiha used the blocking arm as leverage to get above him and land a pretty heavy kick on his opponent.

"No, _**you're**_ not good enough." said Kakashi from behind Naruto. On that note, he could agree; Sasuke was a rather good genin in his own right, if he was able to take what he knew of Rock Lee's Kage Būyō, and make it into his own jutsu. The second that Sasuke's opponent had hit the ground, he finished off the combo with an extremely heavy axe-kick. "_**Shishi Rendan!**_"

"Ippon!" called out Hayate, letting out a few coughs, "The winner of this match is Uchiha Sasuke!"

"Yeah! You did it Sasuke-kun!" called out Sakura as Sasuke walked up the steps.

As soon as he'd arrived at Team Seven's location, Kakashi stopped in front of Sasuke. "Later on, why don't we go somewhere private so that I can look at your Curse Mark," he suggested. Sasuke let out a low grunt.

Naruto didn't care what Kakashi wanted to do with Sasuke; but a part of him was still concerned for the boy's well-being. Besides, he had plenty to show his team today. Simply put, he waited patiently as the board was flashing through the names. The second the names started flashing more slowly, Naruto began fingering the hilt of his sword as the anticipation built up from within. It wasn't long until it stopped at two names: "Uzumaki Naruto and Inuzuka Kira, come on down to the arena!"

"Time to work," said Naruto to nobody in particular, clutching his sword before taking a leap off the balcony. He landed on the balls of his feet with his stone blade at the ready.

"Looks like your boy just got unlucky, Kakashi!" chuckled Kurenai, "Kira is one of the top fighters I've got on my roster."

"I wouldn't count him out," he answered, "plus, something bothers me about that sword." At this point, Kakashi turned to Sakura and Sasuke. "What can you tell me about it?"

"Nothing much," said Sakura, "Naruto just said he'd found it."

…

(Naruto Vs. Kira)

"Well look who our first opponent is!" said Kira with a fearsome smirk on her face, as she let Benihime out of her jacket, "This'll be easy."

"I highly doubt that, Kira," said Naruto, bringing his stone sword out to bear, "I've changed since then. Who knows? I might even be able to give you a pretty good fight."

Kira snorted. "I don't think you're lying to me, but let me ask you something: what's with the sword? Are you trying to compensate for something?"

"Laugh it up," replied Naruto, "I'm going to show you just how much I've changed."

Hayate looked at both sides: Naruto had his stone longsword in a two-handed grip, ready to move in and decapitate his opponent in one go; Kira and Benihime simply stood at the ready, prepared to fight. "HAJIME!"

Naruto began the fight with a single step, and a downward diagonal cut from shoulder to hip only to watch as Kira simply hopped backwards before flipping into the air to throw kunai at him. Naruto's response was to move the stone sword fast enough to deflect the flying daggers before charging in after Kira in an attempt to skewer her upon landing. Benihime was not having any of it, using her small body to push the sword away in a tackle; she'd managed to save her master just in time from getting stabbed, and instead made it such that the stone blade had cut through her tough, hard leather jacket and giving her a pretty clean scratch to the side of her stomach. It was clear that the dog was not done yet when she decided to skid off to the side upon landing, and attempted to distract Naruto from trying to kill her master.

Upon landing, Kira had a look at her injury and had a concerned look in her eyes. Her suede jacket was meant to be strong enough to stop a shuriken or kunai from cutting into her; but this sword that Naruto was using was a lot sharper than it looked. She also noted that the carvings on the face of the blade were glowing; maybe that was why fucking thing was absurdly sharp. As she watched Benihime fighting with Naruto in an attempt to distract him, it was then that she also saw something about the blade that would give her an advantage. She grinned upon seeing her opportunity.

She soon got down on all fours. "_**Shikyaku no Jutsu!**_" As she watched Benihime leaping around in an attempt to get at Naruto's vitals. However, Naruto was not giving the puppy a chance to do such a thing; the wide swings of his blade were preventing her from moving in close. However, as soon as he found an opportunity, Naruto had created three bunshin of himself, each one carrying the sword, two of them dealing with Benihime while, the other two set out to deal with Kira. This forced Kira to take a hop backwards the second she felt something odd about the two bunshin, and her fears were proven to be founded when she saw the duplicated swords cut into the ground. Kira knew that she had to be careful due to the fact that these two bunshin were solid.

Taking a single leap, Kira managed to fight back when she used her claws to cut into one of the Naruto she was fighting. The other one simply responded by landing an overhead punch to her back that would have sent her to the ground had she not used a Kawarimi at the last minute. Kira landed on the bunshin's back, and bit him in the neck. She then watched as one of the bunshin Benihime was fighting suffered the same fate when the puppy pounced on his chest, and bit through his throat. The remaining Naruto grabbed her by the collar and threw her at Kira.

Staying low to the ground, Kira pulled out a small round ball from her jacket, thankful that Naruto's attacks have not hit higher than her stomach, and that Benihime was able to distract him. She tossed the pill to Benihime, allowing the puppy to swallow it. "You're in deep shit now, Naruto," taunted Kira, "Benihime means 'Red Princess'; and when she eats a soldier pill, things really get interesting!"

As she was saying this, Benihime's fur had started taking on a reddish coloration, and she seemed be more bold and aggressive in her stance. "C'mon, girl!" called out Kira, "**Gijū Ninpō: Jūjin Bunshin no Jutsu**!" Once the jutsu was complete, Benihime leaped onto Kira's back, and let out a very loud howl. When the smoke cleared, there were two Inuzuka Kira's, one on top of the other.

Naruto simply stood his ground and watched as the two beast-girls pounced; the Kira on top had rolled off to the side, and upon landing, the both of them split up and started running on the walls and flanking him on both sides before kicking off. "**Gatsūga**!" The jutsu had caused both Kira's to turn into a swirling tornado of death that were trying to hit him from both sides. However, just as Naruto had hopped back, the two tornadoes had veered slightly off: one was moving in behind him, and other aimed for his sword. The attack had come so quickly that the stone surface of the blade was shattered.

"You scared?" taunted Kira, with a fanged grin on her face, "You gonna cry because I broke your precious sword? As long as you're disarmed, I have the edge!"

"What makes you think that's the only thing I've got up my sleeve?" asked Naruto, throwing the broken piece of his stone sword to the ground.

The grin on Kira's face melted into a frown, before it came right back. "Too bad, and I was beginning to like the way you smelled. Don't blame me if you die today!"

The twin tornadoes moved on in quickly, but Naruto just stood there in a fighting stance, prepared for the two attackers to move in and grind him to death with their claws. However, at the last minute, Naruto hopped backwards just a bit and causing the two tornadoes to barely miss him. He then took a big leap forward with an outstretched arm, grabbing Kira by the neck, lifting her up quickly, and then landed three fast headbutts into her face, followed by a final and heavier headbutt. When it was clear that his opponent was stunned, Naruto let her down, grabbed both of her upper-arms, and gave her back a sudden stomp to the back. In response, she let out a loud yelp of pain as a resounding 'pop' was heard. "I only dislocated your shoulders, so there should be no problem fixing it," said Naruto, watching as Kira looked up at him in pain, "I didn't want to do that, but I can't let you get in the way anymore Benihime. But I promise, I will reset your shoulders when I'm done."

Even through the pain, Kira's eyes had widened in shock. The second Kira also had a surprised look on her features, shortly before it turned into rage. "You're gonna pay for that! **TSUGA**!"

{Play: "Captain America" by Hideyuki Fukasawa, from "Marvel Vs. Capcom 3"}

Once again, Kira had leaped into the air, the spin she added turning her into a tornado. Naruto simply held his ground, moving his arm to be ready for a backhand. The second the tornado was close enough, the arm had sprung into action; in a blur, Naruto had successfully hit Kira with a flash of light on his forearm. However, the sound was not a collision of flesh and bone, but from hitting a hard surface. As Kira had managed to break her fall into a roll, and started getting up on her palms to see that over Naruto's arm was a large, round shield with the same kind of writing that was on the stone sword. "I lied to my team when I said I found that sword…I _made_ it!"

"Heh, this actually got more interesting," said Kira, "let's see what you can do now that I know you can make your own gear!"

At that, Naruto held his shield at the ready, charging in at Kira as she leaped into the air as another tornado "**TSUGA**!", waiting for the moment when the two of them got close enough. The second they were within feet of each other, Naruto lifted his shield high enough to cover his shoulder, and briefly used a single step to kick off and tackle Kira in midair. The two attacks had met with a crash, but it was clear that Kira was the one that lost when she was knocked back upon impact. But Naruto didn't stop there: after realizing he'd moved too far, he skidded to a stop and ran back to intercept her the second her feet touched the ground, landing a combo of punches and kicks before throwing Kira into the air and jumping after her. He finished the combo by grabbing Kira from behind, flipped their bodies around to begin diving headfirst into the ground, and then releasing her so that she would hit the floor as he landed in a roll. "You fought pretty well, Kira; but you can't beat final justice."

"Inuzuka Kira *cough* is in no condition to continue fighting *cough, hack*," called out Hayate, "the winner of this match is Uzumaki Naruto!"

Kira wearily got up on her palms and flipped herself onto her back, and watched as he walked towards Benihime. She then saw as he stood over the puppy as her henge had dropped, and she was revealed to have been lying on her side. Naruto picked the puppy up by her rib cage, and she whined in pain as he grabbed one arm, and popped it back into place. He then did the same to the other arm, and lay her down on the ground. "I'm no medic, but they should be reset," he said to her, "get some rest, put some ice on them, and your shoulders should be fine."

As she was lifted onto the stretchers, Kira began to think back on the past. A while ago, she had been one of the people that bullied him, to the point where she'd said in public that she hated Naruto. He was so weak that she found pleasure in tormenting him, and the people seemed to silently encourage it. And in all honesty, she felt like a kind of thrill from it, like an alpha putting the omega in his place. But for some reason, she found herself walking up to his doorstep every Christmas Eve and on his birthday (which wasn't hard to remember) to leave an unsigned present at his doorstep.

Was it from guilt? Did Kira really bully him even into the academy because she hated him? Or did she do it because…_Nah!_ she thought to herself, _Save for Hinata-chan, who would fall for the dolt anyway?_ But still, some part of her seemed glad that he'd gotten this strong…proud even. And for some reason, deep inside, it felt right.

"How did you get this strong?" she asked, as she was carted away, "Where'd you get that power?"

His answer was simple: "I met a god."

…

_**A/N: I wonder who this being is that appeared before a slumbering Team Eight…is it another Aesir, or a Vanir? It could even be a Jotunn. In any case, do read and review, would you kindly?**_

…

_**Vocabulary:**_

_**Benihime─the name means "Red Princess", and it is written as: "**__**紅姫"**_

…

_**Cameos/References:**_

_**Street Fighter III: Third Strike─Naruto used Alex's "Stun Gun Headbutt" Super Art on Benihime**_

_**Marvel Superheroes, Marvel Vs. Capcom─Naruto will likely be using Captain America's moveset when he only has a shield, and the attack he used was "Final Justice"**_


End file.
